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New pages before 2016

23.12.2015 Chapter and video about encoder discs are online.
With this chapter covering rotary encoders you can learn more about the working principles of the drives used in my CNC machines.
17.11.2015 CNC v0.6 got an update to v0.6.1.
The time for the upgrade payed off. The precision is clearly better now.
12.11.2015 The chapter about CNC v2.0 has a FAQ section.
There are many requests about how to copy that CNC (some are already running). In order not having to answer same questions again and again, there is now a section about those Frequently Asked Questions. More questions are still welcome, but to get an answer you must show that you have read the whole section. That saves my valuable time. Thanks!
02.11.2015 Video and chapter about my CNC v0.6 are online.
My latest CNC is driven by motors from old optical drives. It has a very simple design, thus it's a good machine to start CNC.
30.09.2015 I have recorded the lunar eclipse.
The weather forecast for the total lunar eclipse was great, thus I planned to record that astronomical event with a Raspberry Pi camera module.
The result is not too bad, considering that this was the first time ever I have recorded the moon with a camera.
14.09.2015 Help to create the chapter about encoder discs.
My CNC v0.5 and v2.0 use DC motors. If you have any question about those special drives leave a comment or send me a mail.
11.09.2015 Monitor the build process of CNC v0.6.
The evolution of CNC machines goes on - you can monitor the progress of the construction work "live" on this page.
10.09.2015 Video and chapter about my CNC v0.5 are online.
This small and low-cost CNC isn't meant to be a production machine, but an educational tool. If you spend a weekend, you can build a machine with Computer Numerical Control from sratch using only a few tools.
29.07.2015 Chapter and video about stepper motors are online.
The chapter was completely revised and I have used gigabytes of raw material to cut the animation sequences of the video. I hope the result was worth all the effort.
20.07.2015 Curiosity Pi has a new user interface.
The new user interface is more or less self explaining. If you run into trouble when driving Curiosity Pi, leave a comment - Thanks!
02.07.2015 The chapter about stepper motors gets revised.
Tell me what you would like to know about stepper motors and I will try to answer your questions and insert your suggestions in the video that is currently under construction - thanks for any kind of cooperation!
28.06.2015 Video and chapter about my V plotter are online.
I have shown my V plotter for the first time at Pi and More 7 in Trier one week ago. Now, the detailed description and the video about that simple drawing machine with a Raspberry Pi are online.
04.06.2015 Chapter and video about DC motors are online.
Electric motors move the world and my first video about those machines covers the functionallity of brushed DC motors with permanent magnets.
02.06.2015 Meet me (and many others) at Pi and more 7.
Pi and More is an event at the Uni Trier (Germany) about the Raspberry Pi, embedded systems and microcontrollers for beginners and experts. I will bring my WLAN-Plotter, a robot and maybe my "next big thing" to that exibition. Additionally I will explain my IOT software in more detail. Visit the homepage of Pi and More to get all infos.
Did you recognize the "Donate" button? You can spend some money for this project, enabling me to create more machines, videos or robots or pay for some fuel so that I can visit more events like Pi and More in the future - thanks!
23.05.2015 Another Wind tunnel.
Nice to see that my project inspires people far from my home. Marc from Seattle Washington made his own wind tunnel based on my design, but with some clever improvements. It's for his 8th grade class.
The videos about my wind tunnel were the first moving pictures with low quality and without audio comments. Nonetheless it was the beginning of a YouTube channel with almost 8000 subscribers and 1.7 million clicks today.
For more than a year there are ideas in my brain to put some electronic sensors in that wind tunnel and to make a new, better video about that device...
21.05.2015 Help to create my video about DC motors.
In order to improve the quality of my videos, I am asking for some help. Starting with the script of my video about DC motors I am publishing the texts before creating the final version. So you can prove read the text and correct my sometimes verry odd English. As reward, you (and the rest of the world) gets license free videos about science and technology made with German Gründlichkeit in a better English version. You can also submit suggests for additional sequences or give some feedback about passages that are not clearly explained.
Thanks in advance for you cooperation!
11.05.2015 New games!
While doing the redesign of the pages, I have updated the calculation game . Besides addition, you can now also do some exercises in subtraction, multiplication and division.
Furthermore I have created the training page for number conversion.
Have fun!
27.04.2015 The page design gets an overhaul.
I am doing a lot of coding to improve the visibility on small computer screens and mobile devices. I started with the chapters about machines. If the page design looks odd or if links respectively pictures are missing on your device, please leave a comment. I don't own a tablet or smartphone - devices without a physical keyboard are useless for me ;), thus it's hard for me to prove the HTML code.
13.04.2015 Chapter and video about CNC V2 are online.
The machine was built with cheap materials using simple tools. That CNC machine is a great tool to improove the build quality of my next rovers.
12.03.2015 The plotter made of CD drives works fine.
This tiny plotter is a great educational tool.
09.03.2015 Follow HomoFaciens on Google Plus Twitter Twitter .
If you like this project, follow me on Google Plus, Twitter or Facebook, to get notes about updates of these pages.
Likes, +1 and retweeds help to bring this project forward - thanks!
04.03.2015 There are POIs at the Lander.
Those "Points Of Interest" are accessible by numeric buttons. Additional information to the object the camera is pointing to is provided by sound files. How to control the Lander is written in the user guide.
02.03.2015 The RoboSpatium talks.
When driving one of my robots in the RoboSpatium, you should turn on the sound control of your Computer. As soon as the rover gets connected with one of the interaktive modules, a sound file is triggered. Furthermore you get additional information about the RoboSpatium with some random files. Have fun while exploring the new frontiers of my attic!
03.02.2015 Chapter and video about the"Internet Of Things" are online.
Computer can comunicate through Internet in order to assist humans. How to turn a Raspberry Pi into an "Internet Of Things" device is descriped in this chapter.
09.12.2014 Feeding robots.
How to feed mobile robots with electric energy is treated in the video. The chapter describes a power rail system enabling you to operate your robotic vehicles 14h a day and 7 days a week.
27.11.2014 A new user guide for Rover driver is available.
Some more changes were made "under the hood". For example the right column with the quiz disappears whenever the navigation bar (left column) is turned off, to enlarge the text area on small screens (e.g. mobile devices) and to make importing passages through copy & paste more simple. The quiz is additionally available in the column Games for your brain.
24.11.2014 Another thinking game.
I am currently doing a lot of programming around the project in order to embed a new rover and to make the pages more dynamically. As a spin-off another game based on java script was created.
14.09.2014 The chapter about "physical computing" is online.
Originally this was the chapter about I/O boards, but now it is more what I intended to create initially. The first version was created quickly because of the many requests after publishing my video about the Raspberry Pi. With more than 50min the corresponding video is one of my longest - hope you enjoy!
18.08.2014 ...another brain game.
...as the calculations before, this game is made to keep your brain "on the go" - have fun!
15.08.2014 What about some maths?
Wether your intention is to compose electric circuits or build mechinics for your robots: Mental arithmetic enables you to estimate quicky if you can turn your plan into reality or if it is better to develop plan B. Using the tiny calculation game you can train your think tank on top of your shoulders - have fun!
05.08.2014 Did you notice the right column with the Quiz?
By using the quiz you can prove your knowledge. The "game" consists of only 10 questions at the begining, but my plan is to extend the database (nearly) every day with at least one additional entry. Please leave a comment or send me a mail if the quiz doesn't operate as expected, since the code behind is brand new (and defect free software doesn't exist).
19.07.2014 Want to leave a comment?
I have implemented a simple comment functionality ta most of the pages to make communication easy as possible. There is an overview at the column Responses (wich was a formerly a simple guestbook).
I am waiting for your comments...
10.06.2014 Video and chapter about microcontroller are online.
With an Arduino Uno I was able to improove the homebuilt servo from a previous chapter. Furthermore I have added base knowledge about PID controller circuits.
04.05.2014 The video about electrostatics is online.
With more than one hour it is the longest video I have made so far. I had to do lots of coding in Java and OpenGL to create animation sequences. I hope the result was worth all efforts, enabling you to understand the basics of electrostatics.
The YouTube channel used to host the videos of this project exceeded 1,000,000 clicks and more than 300,000 visitors were counted at the project pages - looks like HomoFaciens becomes prominent...
08.04.2014 The chapter about H bridges was overhauled.
I have added a remark about half bridges since a follower of my YouTube channel asked for it.
25.11.2013 Video and chapter about oscilloscopes were revised.
Two videos became one 40 minutes epic. As with the video about digital multimeters, additional sections were added and errors have been eliminated (hopefully all of them...).
13.10.2013 Video and chapter about multimeters are revised.
The video grew to a length of approximately 40 minutes. I have added remarks about operator errors and illustrated the handling more clearly. My skills in video editing grew over the last two years and so I will revise some more videos during the next weeks and months.
14.10.2013 The video about servos is online.
Once again, the 35 min video is longer than originally intended. During the shooting I had to improove the layout of the used circuits, which are now available at the chapter. "Murphy's law" appears only in practice and that's why my project always combines theory with practice.
14.09.2013 The chapter about servos is online.
Servos are essential devices for robotics. In this chapter you will learn how to built your own servos using DC electric motors and how commercially available servos work.
06.09.2013 The video about relays ist online.
Another 40min video which was intended to be around 5min when I first thought about making a video about "simple devices" like relays and switches. Relays are old-fashioned devices, but still in use at many applications. Its fascinating to see and hear an electromechanical device working and this is why I have created a relay clock for the video. It is an observable counter and so a good add-on to the previous chapter about computing (remember that some of the first computing machines were made of relays).
23.08.2013 The chapter about relays ist online.
I inserted this chapter because one of a mail I received some weeks ago from a reader of theese pages and it was fun, developing circuits with relays. It's intresting to see, hear and feel that something is going on in an electromechanical circuit.
13.08.2013 The video about computing is online.
All the animated drawings of the chapter and some more were consolidated to a longplay video. I also soldered some real circuits, which is why I enlarged the chapter about computer slightly. Hopefully the video clarifies some base principles of computing.
27.06.2013 The chapter about computer is online.
How to create base circuits of computer using logic gates is treated at this chapter. Lots of animated gifs were created to explain the functionality.
22.06.2013 The video about logic gates is online.
The video adds some measurements to the chapter amongst some other stuff.
14.04.2013 Es gibt Anzeichen für Leben im RoboSpatium!
White wagtail Sometimes I am with you while you are driving my robots. Just now I spotted a White Wagtail sitting in front of the window, looking longingly outside! I took a screenshot and started a rescue operation (I climbed through the "Stargate" and opened the window). The housetop is several decades old and some more birds made their way into the house through a small gap somewhere, whitout remembering the way out. This one is a lucky bird and thanks to the operator Fabian he was one of the dickeys which could be rescued!
13.04.2013 The chapter about logic gates is online.
Logic gates are the basic modules of digital signal processing. At the first chapter about those circuits, the working principles of several logic families are discussed.
31.03.2013 The picture upload of the RoboSpatium is asynchronous.
Asynchronous means that the picture transfer is now done by a separate script. The rover doesn't wait for the arrival of the next command before uploading the next picture; the transfer is triggered as soon as the previous picture upload suceeded. This results in a slightly increased "frame rate". Additionally I am working on my next rover project.
27.03.2013 The video about function generators is online.
For some video sequences I have used a simple function generator soldered on a tiny board. The layout of the board is now published at the chapter.
13.03.2013 The chapter about function generators is online.
Function generators are very helpful to do measurements at electronic circuits, so you should always have one in your test equipment.
08.03.2013 The video about H bridges is online.
The video gives you additional information about how to create your own H bridge. When I started writing down the screenplay of the video I thought it would become a short one, but I was wrong! I hope, none of the 20 minutes is boring...
19.02.2013 The chapter about H bridges is online.
The chapter about H bridges became very verbosely, because it's an important circuit. Hopefully you'll find all the stuff you are looking for.
31.01.2013 The video about voltage regulation is online.
The length of the video is 17 minutes - it is as verbose as the chapter about constant voltage.
17.01.2013 The chapter about voltage regulation is online.
A really stable DC voltage is essential for many complex circuits. The basics concerning voltage stabilization are treated at this very verbose chapter.
09.01.2013 The video about pulse-width modulation is online.
Some practical benefits of the pulse-width modulation are treated at the video.
27.12.2012 The chapter about pulse-width modulation is online.
The pulse-width modulation is an implementation of the astable multivibrator discussed very detailed at the previous chapter.
25.12.2012 The video about multivibrators is online.
With the video you get another explanation of the working principle of multivibrators - it is much more than just moving pictures of the existing chapter.
14.12.2012 The chapter multivibrators was upgraded.
While working on the video about multivibrators I have soldered some circuits using operational amplifiers.
03.12.2012 Das chapter about multivibrators is online.
It is a very verbose chapter, treating the functionality of multivibrators. Those circuits are very important for digital signal processing. Subsequent chapters will be based on the knowledge provided here.
14.11.2012 The video about RC-circuits is online.
The video demonstrates the charging and discharging procedures of RC circuits and illustrates the working principle of band filters.
12.11.2012 The RoboSpatium is top!
EarthCam Top 10 Winner
The folks from earthcam select the top ten of their listed webcams. The criteria used for judging includes image quality (there are better cams available), uniqueness of the content (that's what the RoboSpatium is), and overall technical achievement in webcam technology (the technology is open source and most of the code was written especially for the project).
If you also think that the RoboSpatium has deserved those nomination, vote for my project:
RoboSpatium at Earthcam.com
Click at the stars (5 stars = TOP), to vote for the RoboSpatium - thanks!
08.11.2012 The chapter about RC-circuits is online.
Some more practical benefits of RC circuits will be treated at subsequent chapters.
31.10.2012 Ghotst have captured Curiosity Pi...
"Happy Halloween!" and may the days of darkness at the northern hemisphere not last forever...
29.10.2012 The video about voltage dividers is online.
The video gives you some ideas of how to use voltage dividers in your own projects.
19.10.2012 The chapter about voltage dividers is online.
A new column starts with this chapter. I would like to introduce some basic circuits during the next weeks.
01.10.2012 The video about operational amplifiers is online.
Some example circuits are discussed at the video about operational amplifiers. More of them will follow soon.
27.09.2012 The Lander has a new camera.
The old camera started turning off itself from time to time without a reproducible reason. The replacement is a Logitech C525 with automatic focus and higher resolution snapshots (1280x720).
20.09.2012 The chapter about Operational amplifiers is online.
Operational amplifiers are very common devices in electronic circuits. The chapter is about the basics of op-amps. Some more information will follow soon.
15.09.2012 The video about switches is online.
The focus is set to the pitfalls of digital amplifying.
09.09.2012 The chapter about switches is online.
Switching devices by amplifying the digital output signals of computers (turning on or off) has been demonstrated many times before at this project (remember the video about the Raspberry Pi or the WM8650 Laptop). What is going on in a transitor is treated at this chapter.
02.09.2012 The video about amplifiers is online.
The video is about some practical circuits after the very academical chapters treating the functionality and the properties of bipolar junction transistors.
27.08.2012 The chapter about amplifiers is online.
Amplifying signals is essential for almost all electronic circuits. The chapter became very verbosely, even while treating just some basics around amplifying circuits. The video is in progress...
22.08.2012 I have sent Cent-Prize medals to earthlings.
Sending the medals to all Cent-Prize winners in the world cost me some bucks, but to me this was a good investment. The Cent-Prize is a very special kind of feedback from and to this project. I have received many mails from rover operators who were nothing but an IP address beforehand.
I have also modified the columns Support wanted, because over time the aims of this project changed slightly and I am still searching for sponsors. That brings me back to the Cent-Prize, which is derived from the Google Lunar X-Prize. I have tried to advert the Google company to my project with a hint to my Cent-Prize, but I did not get a response. Maybe someone of the Cent-Prize winners or rover operators knows someone who knows someone from the X-Prize foundation and could help me to start a conversation.
Hopefully I did not forget a reply to a Cent-Prize mail (I am answering manually). So if you are not listed at the table or if you did not receive an answer, try to send me another mail!!!
18.08.2012 The video about Curiosity Pi is online.
With the video about the construction details of my Raspberry Pi rover I am back on my personal track again...
16.08.2012 The chapter about my plotter / printer / milling machine is online.
Those multifunctional machinery was stored for years in my cellar. After removing the dust and doing some updates it was mentioned at the video about the Raspberry Pi. The community asked for some more details, hence another additional chapter has entered the project...
14.08.2012 The chapter about I/O boards is online.
Something which was planned for the far, far future is online yet. Some folks of the Raspberry Pi community asked for some details about the expansion board I was using at the video about the Pi. The chapter became much more verbosely than intended, because I had to add at least some words about H-bridges, digital signal amplifying and so on, which wasn't treated at my pages so far. I am still not back on my timeline...
11.08.2012 Nothing new on these pages, but about them.
Yesterday I have made it to the front page of Raspberry.org with my video about their great, tiny, cheap computer. The click rate increased dramatically and there was rush hour inside my RoboSpatium. Lots of comments, mails and many new contacts to people doing similar things around the world. The day ran different than planned in the morning hours. Special thanks to Scep from the forum and Liz from the Foundation and of course to all of you out there having a click and a response to my pages. Enriched by new friends and being some cent worse off (congrats to the CentPrize winners) it was a great day!
10.08.2012 Video and chapter about the Raspberry Pi are online.
Those cheap and tiny computer is already cultic. The GPIOs are a fantastic interface to the world outside of bits and bytes, simplifying physical computing like never before.
09.08.2012 Rover 3 is online.
The Mars rover Curiosity has landed successfully at our neighboring planet and I have built another Rover. Up to now it is the smallest robot, because a Raspberry Pi, a tiny computer is operating as host computer. There will be more about this very interesting device soon.
12.06.2012 I have launched the "Cent-Prize".
The Cent-Prize is an completion of the Google Lunar X-Prize. To get the latter one, you have to land a rover safely on the surface of the moon and to drive it for at least 500m. To get the Cent-Prize you don't have to built a moon rocket - patience is sufficient: You simply have to find one of the 1 Eurocent coins hidden inside of the RoboSpatium.
05.06.2012 The video about JFETs is online.
With the video there is preliminary all told, programmed and written about JFETs.
03.06.2012 The Java program about JFETs is online.
The Java program enables you to do some virtual experiments around JFETs.
02.06.2012 The chapter about JFETs is online.
Field effect transistors are added to the column semiconductors by this chapter.
23.05.2012 I have created a video about "Hit and miss" engines.
This video is the beginning of the new column "machinery". Here at I will explain the functionallity of old and new machines.
18.05.2012 I have altered the layout of the header of these pages.
The headers are no longer static, but random quotes and background images are inserted.
27.04.2012 There is a new sample inside the RoboSpatium.
I have purchased a motor of a "Simson Schwalbe". I will use those engine to create a new column of the chapter heat engines. The two stroke engine is still missing there.
19.04.2012 Video and chapter about a wm8650 laptop are online.
With the new chapter about those tiny laptop I would like to take up the cudgels for all those cheap computers coming up to the market, predominantly from the Far East. The central question of the newly created column computer is:
How less computing power do you really need?
11.04.2012 The video about R2 is online.
The construction details of Rover number 2 are treated at this video.
09.04.2012 My second Rover runs in the RoboSpatium.
This is my first battery powered electric vehicle. Yet I have to replace and recharge the battery manually, but R2 - that's how I call my second Rover - should be able to do this automatically in the future. So there is still a lot to be done...
15.03.2012 The starting page of the RoboSpatium is available in French language.
Thanks to Jérôme for the translation work. He is an enthusiastic Rover driver and so he sent me the french version of the starting page. I hope, some more pages will follow. That's a call to all of you out there in front of your computer screens. The pages of HomoFaciens are published under the GNU licence, hence you are allowed to use the stuff for your own projects. So don't hesitate to translate single pages or chapters of your special interest into any language you speak and publish them where ever you want - and if you send me the result of your work, I will puplish more pages in more languages - let's go!
09.02.2012 The 2nd chapter about transistors is online.
Transistors are very useful devices and it is very important to know some basics about their electrical properties before using them.
03.01.2012 I have established the RoboSpatium.
The RoboSpatium - my robot space - makes these sites become more tangible. With the help of the webcams you can observe many samples of the column 'technology' live and colored. Furthermore you can control modules placed inside the room by an infrared interface. Some later you will be able to interact with experiments running inside of the RoboSpatium.
The first "drivable" website of this planet is accelerating...
17.11.2011 I have updated my Rover.
Another webcam will be installed inside of the rover universe and the chapters about robots will be extended soon.
25.10.2011 The first video about bipolar transistors is online.
The video, which demonstrates the processes inside of a bipolar junction transistor, was created with the help of the Java app.
20.10.2011 The Java simulation bipolar transistors is online.
The simulation of the processes inside of a bipolar junction transistor was used to create the video about those devices (which will be published next). You can do some experiments with the help of the virtual transistor.
19.10.2011 The first chapter about bipolar transistors is online.
Another semiconductor device with a very high utility value is the bipolar junction transistor, which will be treated at this and some of the following chapters.
02.10.2011 The video about the Java application diodes is online.
I spent a lot of time to write the source code of the simulation software and to create the video, but I think it was worth doing it. Until now I could not find something comparable in the world wide web and P/N junctions are the base principle of all integrated circiuts.
29.09.2011 The Java application about diodes is online.
The simulation software uses a very simple physical modelling of the processes inside of a diode. Nevertheless, the results visualized by the application are surprisingly good - try it out!
05.08.2011 The second video about oscilloscopes is online, too.
The second video is about the accuracy of oscilloscopes and about errors of measurement.
02.08.2011 The first video about oscilloscopes is online.
The first video is about the handling of an oscilloscope.
22.07.2011 The chapter about oscilloscopes has been enlarged.
Sources of error and the physical limits of oscilloscopes were added to the chapter.
06.07.2011 The chapter about oscilloscopes is online.
Measurements with oscilloscpes are necessary to test and optimize electronic devices and circuits.
The next step will be the construction of a function generator to be able to create the video about oscilloscopes.
02.07.2011 The video about digital multimeter is online.
How to measure resistance, current and voltage as well as the inner impedance of the multimeters is treated at this video. Measuring values of a test circuit affects the measured properties of those circuit, because of the inner impedance of the used instruments. The accuracy of the multimeters and how to minimize the deviation caused by the inner impedance is treated at the video, too.
30.06.2011 The chapter current & voltage measurement has been enlarged.
The video of this chapter is almost complete and the results of the measurements have been inserted.
21.06.2011 The chapter current & voltage measurement is online.
The measurement of the characteristic values of electric circuits is treated at this chapter. Base values are important to be able to design an efficient electric drive.
20.06.2011 The chapter temperature is online.
Temperature is a physical property which always has to be considered while designing the control electronics or the electric motor.
17.06.2011 The chapter observational error is online.
This chapter is the starting page of the new section about metrology.
To be able to design an efficient electric drive, measurement values have to be logged. At the subsequent chapters, the academic knowledge will be prooved with the help of some practical experience.
11.06.2011 The video about the Rover construction is online.
More offboard video sequences from the rover to give you stimulations for your own creations.
I would be glad to hear something about similar rover projects.
10.06.2011 The video instruction: "driving a rover" is online.
You can see the rover moving from the "onboard" view as well as from "outboard".
07.06.2011 From today you can drive my 1st electric car.
I have sent the robot through a stargate to a distant universe, which can be discovered from now on. Thus www.HomoFaciens.de is the first "drivable" web page - have fun!
01.06.2011 My first electric car is complete.
After all the academic chapters about semiconductors I tried to put some of the theory into practice. The result of my handicraft work is a small robot equipped with a webcam, which can be controlled via Internet.
I had to learn how to do socket programming with Perl scripts to be able to do the picture upload. Besides a webcam and two LED flashlights, I used stuff lying around somewhere in my rooms.
Today I invited some mates to start with the test drives.
15.04.2011 The video P-N junction is online.
Have a look at "video sequences from the world of atoms which have never been presented before" (that's why I decided to create the video). The functionality of a P-N junction is treated in a 3D animation and the voltage current characteristic of a diode is recorded in course of the video. The fascinating technology of semiconductors is based on the behavior of P-N junctions.
12.04.2011 The chapter diode is online.
The diode is the first semiconductor device discussed at this project. I am still working at the video about this chapter.
06.04.2011 Video & chapter about doping are online.
I spent a lot of time to create the video about "doping". I took the trouble to provide the video, because I could not find comparable videos at the Internet. The mechanism of p-type conduction is very important for the following chapters about diodes & transistors.
30.03.2011 The video about four stroke engines is online.
I was working for many hours at this combination of real and computer generated sequences. The calculation of the animation, done with the help of the program Blender took more than 50 hours. Videos and text complement one another to explain fundamental facts like the operation of this heat engine.
The aim of this project is to replace a combustion engine by an electric motor - so why all those work to explain the functionality of a heat engine?
Well, the electricity required to power an electric car is commonly generated by heat engines. Not only conventional power plants like nuclear, coal or gas fired power stations, but also solar thermal power stations use heat engines to produce electricity.
In course of this project, a study concerning the energy consumption of electric vehicles is provided besides the conversion report. There will be some more chapters added about the production and the waste of electric energy.
27.03.2011 The chapter four stroke engine is online.
This chapter is the corner stone of the theme "heat engines". The subject index grew once more and almost 700 (!) search items are already included.
The video about this chapter is almost complete.
10.03.2011 The chapter silicon is online.
There is a complete chapter about the most common base material of semiconductor devices, in which the crystal structure of silicon is explained. This chapter is also available as a video. Films like that are used to elucidate complex situations. The communication medium "Internet" should not only be used in written form.
17.02.2011 The chapter band structure is online.
As long as there is no cash flow from (possible) financiers, I am extending the academic chapters around electric vehicles (which costs nothing but time). A very fundamental column has started with this chapter about conductive materials. The control electronic of our vehicle needs different semi conductive devices to operate.
15.02.2011 The chapter motor mechanics is online.
I created a virtual electric motor with the help of the program "Blender" (see column links), to be able to illustrate mechanical problems in conjunction with the motor design.
14.02.2011 The chapter motor parameter is online.
The design of the principal item of our drive - the electric motor - is started at this chapter. Here at the electric parameters which have to be considered, are listed.
04.02.2011 The law of Biot-Savart has been inserted
and some more chapters have been overhauled. The number of pages grew up to more than 100 pages (+ 100 pages in German language) since the beginning. The objectives of this project changed slightly during the growth process, which is why I edited the chapter of the project description.
03.02.2011 The Java-application drive simulator is online.
With the help of this little program you can try to find out, how far you will get with one battery charge.
The background of the starting page has been changed. You can see a selection of classic cars there from now on. If one of those car manufacturers joins this project, I will start the conversion job immediately.
01.02.2011 No news at these pages for a long time...
...but I have not been inactive in the meantime. The project has entered it's crucial phase and I had to make some preparations. First of all I finished the reconstruction of my 2CV (see www.entmontage.de for details).
Now there is enough space for a new vehicle. If that will be my Fiat 126 is not as certain as it was one year ago. I am looking for sponsors now and if another automotive manufacturer classifies this project to be worth supporting, another type of car will be converted - there are many beautiful cars available.
The second step was to contact the "TÜV Süd". At the end of the project the car should roll over the streets of Germany and to do so, many technical regulations have to be considered (not at least for my own safety). I agreed with the TÜV to develop a concept of the drive and to present the whole stuff at an appointed day. In the course of the concept development I constructed an experimental electric model motor to be able to prove and to demonstrate some basic facts. To calculate some of the target values, I programmed a Java-script. More precise values will be calculated by a driving simulator based on the Java application "Tour de Eco" which will follow soon.
There is a lot of new stuff.
Until now, this project grew up in the shadows and so I eliminated errors silently (I did not get any error messages from outside). While looking for sponsors, this sneakiness will be over and the new column Errata will inform you about my brain failures.
Right now my computer is doing an upload of a 20 minute video about my model motor. I hope you like it - just have a look.
12.11.2010 The chapter rechargeable cells is online.
Here you can read some basic facts about secondary batteries.
11.11.2010 The chapter primary batteries is online.
The chemical reactions, energy density and voltage output of different primary batteries are treated at this chapter.
10.11.2010 The chapter batteries is online.
One more step to an accordant energy storage for our project car.
09.11.2010 The chapter corrosion prevention is online.
After discovering the processes leading to the formation of rust, the prevention respectively the deceleration of these processes is the theme of this chapter.
06.11.2010 The chapter corrosion is online.
Meanwhile the formation of rust, like described by the chemical reactions of this chapter, continues at the project car, which is parking outdoors...
05.11.2010 The chapter galvanic cell is online.
A galvanic cell is one possible energy source for electric motors.
04.11.2010 The chapter standard electrode potential is online.
An often used table of electrochemistry is discussed at this chapter.
03.11.2010 The chapter electrolysis is online.
When talking about the charging process of batteries, we will deal with the processes discussed at this chapter.
02.11.2010 The chapter redox reactions is online.
Redox reactions are a very special type of chemical reactions. The exchange of electrons ocurring at redox reactions will be discussed at some of the following chapters.
01.11.2010 The chapter chemical equation is online.
Chemical reactions are essential to understand the functioning of batteries and they will keep us busy during the next chapters.
29.10.2010 The periodic table is online.
The solution for my periodic table is based on some scripting and the "storage rack of chemistry" is filled with the necessary content.
28.10.2010 I am working on a skeletal structure for a periodic table.
The properties of chemical elements will be a basic part of the following chapters. I am trying to create a clearly arranged presentation, which can be filled with the required information.
27.10.2010 The chapter periodic table is online.
The classification of chemical elements makes it possible to pick the adequate substance out of the "warehouse of chemistry".
26.10.2010 The chapter chemical reaction is online.
Many definitions are written down at this chapter to communicate the base knowledge around chemistry.
25.10.2010 The chapter atoms is online.
This chapter is the beginning of the section "electrochemistry" which leads to the functioning of batteries.
08.-23.10.2010 I have been working at the conversion project of my 2CV number two to make it ready for the TÜV inspection.
To be able to use my tinkerer garage for the Fiat I had to finish the conversion project of my 2CV. At least the TÜV relevant parts are assembled and you can have a look at the creation at www.entmontage.de. I also overhauled the pages of the 2CV project which was a lot of work, too.
07.10.2010 The chapter power output is online.
At this chapter a widely spread misunderstanding concerning the efficiency of electric motors is corrected.
06.10.2010 The chapter torque curve is online.
Torque generates the force which will move the project car.
05.10.2010 The chapter energy conversion efficiency is online.
Energy is a precious commodity, even though this is not reflected by it's price (yet). How effective electrical energy is converted into mechanical energy is given by the energy conversion efficiency.
04.10.2010 The Java-App AC asynchronous motor is online.
"Small" program doesn't necessarily mean it is written in a small span of time. I needed another half day of work to write a meaningful animation concerning asynchronous motors. I used the rest of the day to do some corrections at the pages of this project.
01.10.2010 I have been working on a Java-App concerning asynchronous motors.
I wasn't able to produce a really good animation concerning the functionality of asynchronous motors. The reason lies in the fact that armature and rotating magnetic field are running asynchronous. Therefore I decided to write a small Java-application about this theme.
30.09.2010 The chapter AC asynchronous motor is online.
Asynchronous motors are common electric engines. Many electric vehicles are powered by those kind of motor.
29.09.2010 The chapter AC synchronous motor is online.
Synchronous motors are not only used to power computer drives, but also big machines - connected to three-phase electric power.
28.09.2010 The chapter AC motor is online.
AC motors for an electric vehicle with DC voltage source (=battery)? Some chapters later we will see that this is reasonable!
27.09.2010 The chapter stepper motor is online.
The rotation of stepper motors can be controlled in many ways and they are not just useful for inkjet printers.
24.09.2010 The chapter electrical excited DC motor is online.
Instead of long texts you can find animated pictures at this chapter. The functionality and the switching operations inside electric motors are visualized.
23.09.2010 The chapter DC permanent magnet motor is online.
A core issue of these pages starts academically: Electric motors!
22.09.2010 My computer has been upgraded with the help of a new mainboard.
Of course nothing new. Saving resources is a main theme of these pages. If an old car gets pepped up here, so why not typing these pages with the help of recycled circuitries? The mainboard used before started weakening (turning it on took 5 minutes of time). That's why I replaced the 8 year old device by a 4 year old one. It gave me a much better performance...
I took the chance to install a new version of OpenSuSE.
21.09.2010 The chapter RLC circuit is online.
Undesirable oscillations will appear while controlling the electric motor of our vehicle. With the base knowledge about RLC circuits we are able to inhibit those oscillations.
20.09.2010 The chapter energy stored in magnetic fields is online.
There were no modifications at these pages for one week. The reason is, that my tinkerer garage is occupied by my 2CV (see www.entmontage.de). I have been working at this car to come closer to the German vehicle inspection sticker.
10.09.2010 The chapter switching operation is online.
Many formulas are inside of this chapter. Those formulas are important to understand the principle of operation and the control systems of electric motors.
09.09.2010 The addendum formulary at the column technology is online.
The revision of the formulas I did yesterday, was the inducement to create the addendum formulary. The more voluminous this project becomes, the more helpful a table like this will be to find what you are looking for.
08.09.2010 I have overhauled the mathematical formulas
Inserting the chapter capacitor disordered the numeration of the formulas. Accordingly the references did not match any longer. I took this as a motivation to overhaul the formulas and the referencing. The result of a whole day of work is the fact that future insertions can be done automatized (with the help of a little C-program).
07.09.2010 The chapter capacitor is online.
I have inserted this chapter between Voltage and current. Primarily I had intended to present the capacitor some later in another context, but that was finally not the best idea.
06.09.2010 The chapter self-inductance is online.
A tricky chapter I have kept widely free from formulas (at the moment). The mathematics behind inductance will be treated some chapters later again.
03.09.2010 The chapter AC voltage is online.
This chapter is predominantly about items used at the following chapters.
02.09.2010 The chapter eddy current is online.
Eddy currents are an epiphenomen of induction and they will appear at some more chapters soon.
01.09.2010 The chapter induction is online.
We will see phenomenons effected by induction at several of the following chapters. One graphic used at this chapter is the first animation of the project. As an antagonist of blinking and jerking websites, I would like to use this instrument just in a very selective way.
31.08.2010 I have overhauled the chapter Support wanted.
Those of you who would like to support me with this project, should have a look at this column - thanks!
30.08.2010 I overhauled the meta tags of the pages.
Meta-tags are declarations at the source code of Internet pages. They are useful to classify the content of each page and are processed by search engines. Until now I missed to service those short descriptions, what has been done now. Meanwhile the presence of HomoFaciens has grown up to more than 100 pages and the action cost me a whole day...
Being found - mainly at the right place and in the right context - should be the pay for this work
26.08.2010 The chapter hard or soft is online.
It is about the properties and application spectrum of ferromagnetic materials (what else?).
26.08.2010 The chapter hysteresis loop is online.
The advantages and disadvantages of magnetic hysteresis will be discussed some later.
25.08.2010 The chapter magnetic hysteresis is online.
I decorated the new chapter with screenshots of the Java-app of the previous chapter.
24.08.2010 Temperature became part of the Java-application Magnets inside magnetic fields.
Accordingly there are some experiments considering the influence of temperature. The program version became 1.2.
23.08.2010 I have written an experiment guidance for the Java-application Magnets inside magnetic fields.
The aim of the Java application is to lead over to the chapter "magnetic hysteresis". The virtual experiments with their comments should help to do so. Some features have been added to the application and the version number is 1.1 by now.
20.08.2010 The Java-application Magnets inside magnetic fields is online.
Program version 1.0 allows to observe the interaction of many magnets among each other respectively with an external field.
By observing just two magnets, the statements of the previous chapter can be verified.
19.08.2010 I started programming a Java app concerning "Magnets inside magnetic fields".
This application gives you the possibility to do some trials with many small magnets. The program shall lead over to the chapter "magnetic hysteresis".
If I should be able to commandeer some sponsors for this conversion project, I will give you a report of the things done at every working day (grant me some leave days). If that won't result in a new page (some steps need more time than just one working day), you can read at least some words about the progress at this blog.
18.08.2010 The chapter Magnets inside magnetic fields is online.
The force generated by magnets inside magnetic fields is used to transform electric power into mechanical power some chapters later.
17.08.2010 The chapter Magnetic permeability is online.
The behaviour of matter inside magnetic fields is elementary for the operation of electric motors.
16.08.2010 The layout of the pages has been optimized for MIDs.
MIDs means Mobile Internet Devices. Those small computers have small displays with low resolutions. To avoid the horizontal scrolling while reading the pages of HomoFaciens, the navigation bar on the left can be switched off. Therewith the whole width of the screen is available for the content of the pages. I used a solution based on pure html to minimize incompatibilities between different browsers with different security settings.
Old computers with small displays take benefit of this step, too. Maybe some of you have such an old machine somewhere in the tinkerer garage.
08.04.2010 The chapter inductor is online.
Inductors are basic components of electric motors.
02.04.2010 The chapter magnetism is online.
Magnetic forces are just a few steps away from the construction of electric motors.
The main font has been replaced.
The font "Serif" has been replaced by "Times". The characters I (upper i) and l (lower L) differ more clearly at this font.
The addendum circuit symbols is online.
Drawings of electrical circuits will be an important part of the chapter technology, hence an addendum of the used symbols will be very useful. This chapter will be updated whenever new electronic components are described at these pages.
28.03.2010 The chapter Constant-resistance network is online.
At the previous chapter, the paragraph about electric power has been added.
25.03.2010 The chapter Current and resistance ist online.
24.03.2010 The chapter voltage is online.
The videos around wind tunnel experiments are available at YouTube, too.

22.03.2010 The chapter electric charge is online.
With this chapter the academic essay of electrical engineering starts.
16.03.2010 The implementation of videos has been overhauled and some new graphics have been drawn.
Using Windows and mainly the Internet Explorer, prevented the videos about the wind tunnel experiments from being displayed correctly. With the help of ffmpeg I converted the material into Flash videos and implemented those films on separate pages.
I created some graphics suitable for the chapters of different columns. My design skills aren't better than those of the oldest known humans and so they look like rock art.
13.03.2010 I have built a wind tunnel to conduct the first experiments concerning this project.
Experiments shall become a fundamental element of these pages. This project is addressed to the "acting humans" and so some field research will be the right choice to confirm theories.
Building a wind tunnel was easy to conceive, but tricky to do. Even though it was never planned to capture absolute values with many decimal places, I needed more than one try to get a practical set up. Many details had to be integrated into the construction and at least I am satisfied about the result...
The films about the wind tunnel were my first activities around moving pictures, even though I am an enthusiastic digital photographer for many years. The basic raw material of my compact camera isn't as good as expected, but possibly I can recruit an accordant sponsor. The software of my choice is the open source project "OpenShot".
26.02.2010 A construction paper of the project car is available at the column "Download".
For wind tunnel trials I need a papercraft of the project car. While searching for existent papercrafts at the Internet I just found a version of very poor quality. I decided to built my own version drawed to scale.
23.02.2010 The pages are available in English.
I translated the pages in English language. Maybe I can find project partners, helping me to translate these pages into some more languages.
01.02.2010 The chapter "Mechanics" of the column "Technology" is published.
While working at this chapter I defined the key points, an electric car has to fulfill concerning mechanics, for the first time. A really good database helps you to avoid the biggest mistakes.
01.01.2010 Java-Applications are added to the project
I started programming Java to bring some kind of interactivity to the pages.
I realized that some issues are easier to explain with these applets while I worked at the column "Technology". Besides this, I wanted to give you some space for experimentation and playing.
01.12.2009 The design is complete - somewhat...
I have predefined the columns and created a less complex design. The focus of these pages should be the transfer of information and knowledge so there is no use for frippery.
01.11.2009 The Internet presentation starts.


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